Scan barcode
starfish5's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
krism's review
5.0
I first read this book in the early 1980s and loved it so much that I felt it was time to revisit it. Not a small undertaking as the book is almost 900 pages long. Leon Uris is a master at weaving captivating characters, drama, suspense, and romance into real life historical events. If you want to know more about the history of Ireland and the events that lead to the formation of the IRA, and the Northern Ireland Conflict (aka The Troubles), this is your book. I grew up hearing about the Irish conflict on the evening news. In 2015, I visited Northern Ireland and toured the city of Derry, aka Londonderry, depending on whether you are Protestant or Catholic/loyalist or nationalist. We also witnessed some of the Orange marches which still spark violence in the country.
wwatts1734's review
3.0
I have read several of Leon Uris's historical novels and for the most part they are very good. This one was a disappointment for a number of reasons. For one thing, it took on an epic format that tended to lose the flow of the novel. The novel actually started in the 18th century and ended in 1915 and covered several generations of a family. This made it hard to follow. I found that the characters were a bit shallow, formulaic and one dimensional. They really didn't have personalities, they were mere role fillers. This was also disappointing.
Leon Uris novels tend to be about rebellions or uprisings. Mila 18 was about the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Exodus was about the Zionist struggle to establish Israel and defend it in the 1948 war. Trinity is also about a struggle, only this novel was not about Jews, it was about the Irish. And herein lies the rub. In Trinity, Uris sets up the Irish as the poor oppressed people, like the Jews are in his other novels. In this novel, the oppressors are the British, mixed in with the Unionist Protestants of Belfast, although Uris tends to see the Unionists as victims themselves. The problem is that throughout the novel it is obvious that Uris has a problem with the Catholic Church and the Catholic religion. He portrays priests as vile creatures who oppress the faithful and he portrays practicing Catholics as hypocrites and pollyannas. The problem with this is that Catholicism is part of the Irish national identity. The Irish were adamant about independence from Britain precisely because they were Catholic and the British were Protestant. So if Uris's heroes in this novel, the Irish Nationalists, were fighting for the freedom to practice a faith that Uris finds revolting, then what precisely was heroic about the Irish Nationalists? They were simply trading one oppressor, the British, for a worse one, the Catholic Church. This doesn't make any sense and it throws the whole premise of the novel into confusion. This is why writers of novels dealing with revolutions and uprisings should sympathize with the culture and values of the characters that they choose as protagonists. I suspect that Uris' decision to write this kind of novel about the Irish was a poor choice for him.
Overall the novel isn't too bad and there are some good points about the novel. However, I would recommend Uris's other novels more than I would recommend this one.
Leon Uris novels tend to be about rebellions or uprisings. Mila 18 was about the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Exodus was about the Zionist struggle to establish Israel and defend it in the 1948 war. Trinity is also about a struggle, only this novel was not about Jews, it was about the Irish. And herein lies the rub. In Trinity, Uris sets up the Irish as the poor oppressed people, like the Jews are in his other novels. In this novel, the oppressors are the British, mixed in with the Unionist Protestants of Belfast, although Uris tends to see the Unionists as victims themselves. The problem is that throughout the novel it is obvious that Uris has a problem with the Catholic Church and the Catholic religion. He portrays priests as vile creatures who oppress the faithful and he portrays practicing Catholics as hypocrites and pollyannas. The problem with this is that Catholicism is part of the Irish national identity. The Irish were adamant about independence from Britain precisely because they were Catholic and the British were Protestant. So if Uris's heroes in this novel, the Irish Nationalists, were fighting for the freedom to practice a faith that Uris finds revolting, then what precisely was heroic about the Irish Nationalists? They were simply trading one oppressor, the British, for a worse one, the Catholic Church. This doesn't make any sense and it throws the whole premise of the novel into confusion. This is why writers of novels dealing with revolutions and uprisings should sympathize with the culture and values of the characters that they choose as protagonists. I suspect that Uris' decision to write this kind of novel about the Irish was a poor choice for him.
Overall the novel isn't too bad and there are some good points about the novel. However, I would recommend Uris's other novels more than I would recommend this one.
monicamjw's review
4.0
A walk through the north of Ireland with compellingly drawn Union and Republican characters. Late 1800's to the Easter Rising.
caroparr's review
3.0
Pete Hamill's review in the Times says it better than I could: "It is a simple thing to point out that Uris often writes crudely, that his dialogue can be wooden, that his structure occasionally groans under the excess baggage of exposition and information. Simple, but irrelevant. None of that matters as you are swept along in the narrative." Good accompaniment to our Ireland trip.
sreads0606916's review
the second i dropped this book was the second my reading slump ended…
anagramatica's review
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
The whole story was fascinating to me, and the characters were enjoyable. The historical content is interwoven throughout a vivid fictional framework.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Bullying, Death, Cursing, and Alcoholism